The Good News and The Bad News

Last night was a productive night. We hung the small collage of pictures, did the garbage, tax return, laundry, and uploaded albums. No time to read though. Hopefully tonight!

Last night Eric told me something that happened to him the other day.

He said, ‘Do you want the good news or the bad news first?’

‘Good, always.’

‘I think I am immune to pop.’

‘That was fast. The bad news?’

‘I drank pop today.’

I laughed.

He swallowed.

‘I was out for lunch and I bought some juice, or what I thought was juice anyways. It was some type of orange drink. I took a sip and discovered it was carbonated POP.’

He swallowed.

‘That’s no big deal, anyone could have made that mistake. Don’t worry about it! The good news?’

‘I took a drink of it and almost spit it out- it tasted so gross to me. I can’t believe I used to drink that stuff.’

He had the guiltiest look on his face I think I have ever seen. I had to smile. I don’t know what he was more horrified of: the fact that he wasn’t expecting to taste pop or the fact that he doesn’t enjoy the taste anymore! Either way, I am a proud wife. It just goes to show you how taste buds can dramatically change after just 4 months.

It also made me think about when I made the transition to a vegan diet. It wasn’t a sudden decision on my part, but one that was done over the course of a year. I slowly began to cut down meat and dairy. I craved cheese, yogurt, and eggs a lot for about 4 months and then the cravings just stopped. I now get cravings for the new foods that I eat, almost as if my body forgets what I used to eat, or better yet, maybe prefers the new diet all together.

Eric finds that he now craves drinks like orange juice and tea when he previously would have craved a pop and he says his cravings for Coke have gone away about 99% in just 4 months. For his Coke story and why he decided to kick the habit, see this post.

I asked him if he would ever drink Coke in moderation again, like at a party or dinner out.

‘I don’t think I could bring myself to drink a can.’

This morning I was a photographer fail and my camera battery died on me. I blame the ridiculously long photoshoot I had with the CSA veggies last night on the deck. The back-up battery was dead too, which I know, completely defeats the purpose of a back-up battery. It’s all good. I will have two batteries in a couple hours so I can snap my little heart out.

In lieu of not having any breakfast pictures, I thought I would show you some of my favourite Vegan Overnight Oats Parfait shots…prepare to drool!

The one on the left is the one Eric made for me on my birthday in May!

Recipes can be found on my recipe page (I update it daily!). Are you a vegan overnight oats or regular overnight oats fan? What is your favourite way to eat it?

Please provide a valid email and contact name and write ‘HLS’ in the notes. I will be drawing the winner randomly after Friday at noon EST! Please note that I am raffling off only the HLS conference ticket and the winner must pay for all other travel and hotel expenses.

Good luck and thank you to all who enter!!!

Today’s question- Have your taste buds ever changed over time for certain foods?

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I always love your overnight oat pics :) They look so bright, cheerful, and healthy!!
Also, that is so cute about the hubs and pop…I say, good for him! Now..I just need my man to follow suit ;) some day!

How funny – on his last birthday (34th), my husband decided that he was sick of feeling tired and out of shape and decided to do something about it. I didn’t say anything b/c I really wasn’t sure where it would lead. 6 months later he has lost 20lbs, works out 3 mornings (!) a week at the gym before work, ran a 10K with me 3 weeks ago, and is very careful about what he eats (with some wiggle room for eating out etc). Could not be more proud! And after watching Food Inc, he is always quizzing me about what I’m buying, where it came from etc. Guys are very bizarre sometimes :) I need to start the o/night oats thing – would save me at least 10 minutes in the AM.

Lizzie- My boyfriend has been grumbling about “feeling gross” & keeps saying he wants to get himself in gear but just can’t “get into it.” Did anything in particular motivate your husband? did he read any blogs or magazines?

My tastebuds have changed in an annoying way :-/ I never liked sweets & didn’t grow up in a household where they were apart of our every day diet. ->enter college-> now I crave cookies, ice cream, cupcakes like a fiend! its very frustrating :( i’m hoping that if i cut back on refined sugar maybe my cravings won’t be so intense!

JenATX — I have quite the sweet tooth! What I’ve learned is that I am fine with sweets provided I have them every other, or ever three nights. The other nights, I eat fruit (any and all kinds), sometimes I add a dollop of yogurt to a fruit salad. This helps me a lot. I used to think fruit wouldn’t do the trick for my sweet tooth, but it does! Case in point — I polished of 2 cups of cherries the other night when I was completely burned out and exhausted from work, and it took care of my desire for sweets. I also sometimes drink lemon water, too, in the evenings.

Hey Jen:
I think it was a bunch of things. The big one was almost hitting his mid-30′s. Some of it had to do with his work colleagues, who aren’t in the greatest shape and only in their mid-late 20′s and he didn’t want to end up like that. He also realized that he was at the end of the biggest clothing size he had been since high school and didn’t want to have to go out and buy new clothes if he kept on the same track. Funny – he also said that he kept thinking of himself as being young (internally), but externally it didn’t match up and he wanted to (almost) feel like he was 18 again. You sound like you’re super supportive of him and that helps too. I also credit Angela and her yummy healthy recipes!! :)

Absolutely. If you cut back, give it about 3 weeks (they say it takes 21 days) and your cravings will certainly go down! You will be amazed that your tastebuds will detect sweetness in unexpected places and the littlest amount of sweet will quench your cravings! A banana will do, where a doughnut used to, or you will realize you like tea without sugar, and that there is no need to add sugar to oatmeal…things like that! You will be amazed!

I think it is so great that Eric has managed to kick the pop habit. I still love a cold can of Coke from time to time, even though I know that it is just awful for me. Maybe I need to go cold turkey and hope for the same results he got. I can’t imagine not liking it but it would be amazing if I didn’t.

My tastebuds have changed a lot since I went vegan 2 years ago. I always ate healthy before that, but now I eat even healthier. I never crave things like meat or dairy products. I did for the first few months, but after that I just started forgetting what they tasted like. I also have become more sensitive to sugar. I used to be able to eat really sweet things with no problem, but now if I eat something that is particularly sweet (like ice cream or cake made with white sugar) it tastes way too sweet to me. I used to drink diet soda and use artificial sweetener in my coffee and now I can’t stand the taste of those either.

Just recently I realized that I no longer like diet pepsi/coke or splenda. I used to follow weight watchers and was consuming a lot of artificial sweeteners and thought nothing of it. Recently, I realized I was getting a weird taste in my mouth after drinking diet coke or adding splenda to my coffee. I began to use soymilk in my coffee and found no need for a sweetener (I have now began using almond milk in my iced coffee instead of soy). As far as the diet coke goes I just felt gross and headachey. I still do consume some fresca or diet sprite which still isn’t good for me, but that hasn’t started to bother me yet.

Funny thing is that when I get coffee out they don’t have almond milk, so I get non fat milk and when I tried to put a splenda in it it was sooo gross. Yuck!

I think that’s really awesome how Eric reacted and that he doesn’t like soda as much as he used to, good for him!! I also quit soda a few years ago and when I tried to have it again I really didn’t care for the taste and the carbonation wasn’t pleasing to my mouth so I’m glad I don’t care for it anymore.

I agree on the changing tastebuds thing! There are non-vegan things that I used to love to eat, that I cannot even smelll anymore without feeling queasy. Other things still look appealing (ice cream; real brie cheese)…probably my body still needs a few more months to adjust.
VOO are my Sunday breakfast treat. The other days, I have GM’s: by the way, thanks for the name! I had been making my own version for a while but had been calling them soy or almond smoothies…Green Monster is much better.
I think my favorite VOO at the moment is with wild blueberries (left whole) and banana. Pretty boring, I suppose, but I love wild blueberries!!!

Wow you’ve had some beautiful VOOs!!
My tastes have totally changed – I used to be addicted to sweet, milky chocolate and fat laden crisps and burgers..now, I’m happy wiht 1 square of dark and I don’t crave any of the junk I used to want! I don’t even crave cheese, eggs, meat, milk..none of it! My tastes are much cleaner now :)

Yea! Love the Eric and the Pop story updates! Thanks for relating the story, Angela!
I am 3+ months now with no pop…and like Eric, I have happily had no cravings … just ONE day when we went to the beach and I really think I would have enjoyed a cold Diet Coke…but I am not yet at the point where I think I could have “just one” and not go back to my old habits. BUT, happily!…all other times I think “ew!” when I think of pop! I think of the benefits, too: a rash I had for 16 months is gone, and that bloaty/gassy feeling no longer plagues me.
So happy to hear of Eric’s progress! :)

Congrats to Eric! I have also been trying to give up pop for a while. It’s not like I drink tons of it anyway, but I’ll usually have it if I’m at a restaurant or going out to a party or something. Still, I’m trying to keep it to a minimum because I know the stuff can’t be good for me!

My tastebuds have definitely changed over time. I used to hate yogurt, and now I can’t live without it. I also used to eat ketchup on practically everything as a child, but now anything I’d have put ketchup on gets salsa instead!

That is so great about Eric and pop! I went through the same thing when I first switched to diet from regular (I know, I know, I should have just stopped altogether, but it worked for me) — after a while if I were to take a drink of regular pop it tasted SO sugary and syrupy and gross. Now I have been weening myself off of the diet pop (no more than 1 per day and I usually have 3-4 per week total). I do believe taste buds can change and adapt — I used to hate veggies as a kid and now I almost crave them.

That is so adorable of Eric. He clearly felt like he let you down by this mistake. I look forward to the day that my hubby doesn’t drink as much coffee as he does, however with his job, it might be a while before that ever happens.

I don’t think they have changed in that there are foods that I used to like that now I don’t. I guess that isn’t true. Pasta. I used to love cheesy saucy pasta. Now it just leaves me feeling bloated and unhappy. Lasagna, stuffed shells, spaghetti, mac & cheese (if that even counts as pasta).

I do have new foods I crave instead simply because I had never had them before, or knew how to use them properly. Lentils, chickpeas, spaghetti squash. I love discovering new foods and recipes now.

I am most definitely drooling..those photos are vegan-overnight-oats-heaven!!! Yum. Yes, it’s truly amazing how our bodies can detox and adapt to both new foods and tastes. I haven’t had pop in years…I’d probably spit it out just like Eric did =)

Since I first read about Vegan Overnight Oats here, they’ve become a breakfast staple! They’re perfect for breakfast right when I get into the office. I like mine with cinnamon, tahini and pumpkin seeds!

Ah good for him! I actually think pop is something I could give up fairly easy. I only crave one about once a week and even then I can only handle 1/2 a can at the most! Maybe it’s something I should think about giving up.

I love your VOO parfaits…so lovely. I made an oatmeal parfait yesterday inspired by you! And your photography is just stunning. I mean who knew I would like to sit here and look at pictures of your oatmeal layered with food processed banana? Hahaha.

I stopped drinking soda when I was 14 (I’m 23 now) and now i just *can’t* drink it. Every now and then I will because there’s absolutely no other choice but I feel like crap when I do, and I can’t handle the carbonation anymore. You get un-used to it, it’s so weird!!

Btw I <3 that Eric is being conscious of this and talking about it. My boyfriend is just starting to talk to me about food and health – last night he called me to tell me he ate a salad for lunch and healthy fish for dinner and he was planning on a salad for lunch the next day too. I know it's my influence rubbing off on him and I LOVE IT!!

I don’t care for the taste of artificial sweetner much anymore. I still have it, occassionally, but after reducing my over-all sweets intake, I found I could really notice the difference.

Also, my husband used to be the mayo KING. About a year ago, he switched over to salsa and hot sauce. Now he’s got me hooked on hot sauce — to the extent I ask the restaurant to hold a creamy sauce on a dish, and bring some hot sauce out instead.

I definitely have had my taste buds change. I gave up diet cokes a few months ago (for about the 4th time..but that’s another story) and now it just tastes disgusting to me! Like metal or something. Other things like anything greasy or fried seems gross to me as well, when I used to gobble it up! It’s like our bodies are saying to us, “duh!”

There’s been a few items that I used to eat a lot and now can’t stand. Pop is definitely one of them, I’ve become one of those half-can drinkers I used to hate. As in, I can only stomach half a can of pop before I push it over to my boyfriend. I rarely drink the stuff anymore.

My tastebuds have DEFINITELY changed over the past 9 months! The thought of a lot of processed foods makes me sick to think about. I still have a Coke habit, but I’ve acquired a taste for flavored sparkling water, so that’s what I try to keep in the house. I don’t think I’ll ever try to quit sodas completely because that would mean giving up Dr Pepper, and being a good Texas girl, I can’t give that up completely. ;)

My taste buds have definitely changed over the last year and a half or so. When I really started concentrating on my health I decided to choose whole foods whenever possible. I used to crave candy and sweets and now I crave (and love) fruit. Also, the more I try and phase out processed and refined foods, the less I crave the fake stuff. It’s really amazing how fast my tastes changed, i wasn’t expecting it, that’s for sure!

Your pictures are wonderful! You may have mentioned this somewhere else, but what kind of camera do you use?

I too kicked the pop habit about 6 months ago along with my husband and neither one of us even want it anymore. It’s true with all foods like sugar, it just takes a little time and then the body adjusts and you don’t crave it or even like it anymore.

I stopped using sugar in tea this year (I drink black tea rather than coffee in the mornings). I used to take 2 tsps in a mug! Then cut down to 1, then half and now that I’ve given it up I find it revoltingly sweet to take any sugar in tea at all. Don’t know how I ever used any let alone 2 tsp. Funny how the mind and taste buds evolve and adjust.

I’ve always been a junk-food-junkie, but the healthier I eat, the more that stuff starts to taste “processed” to me. My cravings are now often for Hummus w/ veggies, ohhh, and VOO! Seriously, I’ve been making it for breakfast a few times a week and often that’s even what I’m in the mood for when I get home from work at night. The Chia makes it totally addictive.

Fried foods definitely make my stomach churn now. I used to love them…but now, I can hardly touch it. The grease is repulsive to me and I would so rather have something sauteed in olive oil or something like that.